Spill response boats work to contain fuel leaking from the bulk carrier cargo ship Marathassa, anchored on Burrard Inlet, Thursday, April 9, 2015, in Vancouver, British Columbia. The City of Vancouver warned that the fuel is toxic and should not be touched. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darryl Dyck) less

Spill response boats work to contain fuel leaking from the bulk carrier cargo ship Marathassa, anchored on Burrard Inlet, Thursday, April 9, 2015, in Vancouver, British Columbia. The City of Vancouver warned ... more

Photo: DARRYL DYCK, AP

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Fuel leaks from the bulk carrier cargo ship Marathassa, Thursday, April 9, 2015, in Vancouver, British Columbia. The City of Vancouver warned that the fuel is toxic and should not be touched. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darryl Dyck) less

Fuel leaks from the bulk carrier cargo ship Marathassa, Thursday, April 9, 2015, in Vancouver, British Columbia. The City of Vancouver warned that the fuel is toxic and should not be touched. (AP Photo/The ... more

Photo: DARRYL DYCK, AP

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Iceberg Point is shown on Lopez Island as the San Juan Islands National Monument. It looks out on path that would be taken by 34 oil tankers a month coming to and departing from an oil port just east of Vancouver. (Joshua Trujillo, seattlepi.com) less

Iceberg Point is shown on Lopez Island as the San Juan Islands National Monument. It looks out on path that would be taken by 34 oil tankers a month coming to and departing from an oil port just east of ... more

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Patos Island in the San Juan Islands National Monument: 34 oil tankers would go by the island each month if a pipeline liking Alberta with Burnaby, B.C., is expanded. (Joshua Trujillo/Seattle P-I file)

Patos Island in the San Juan Islands National Monument: 34 oil tankers would go by the island each month if a pipeline liking Alberta with Burnaby, B.C., is expanded. (Joshua Trujillo/Seattle P-I file)

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The Turn Point Lighthouse is shown on the west end of Stuart Island. Furthest northwest of the San Juan Islands, Stuart Island faces Haro Strait, where 34 tankers a month would pass if a Canadian oil pipeline is expanded and an oil tanker port is built. less

The Turn Point Lighthouse is shown on the west end of Stuart Island. Furthest northwest of the San Juan Islands, Stuart Island faces Haro Strait, where 34 tankers a month would pass if a Canadian oil pipeline ... more

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Transient Orcas feeding on north side of Stuart Island, San Juan Islands, Sept. 9, 1013. Thirty-four tankers coming in and out of a British Columbia oil port will pass through these waters each month.

Transient Orcas feeding on north side of Stuart Island, San Juan Islands, Sept. 9, 1013. Thirty-four tankers coming in and out of a British Columbia oil port will pass through these waters each month.

Photo: (Captain Jim Maya/www.mayaswhalewatch.biz)

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An oil spill bill in Washington, a pipeline protest in B.C.

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Washington has a new layer of protection for the Salish Sea, with the Legislature on Wednesday completing passage of the Oil Spill Prevention Act and sending it to Gov. Jay Inslee for his signature.

The legislation comes on the eve of a mass protest, scheduled Saturday in Burnaby and Vancouver, B.C., against a massive planned pipeline that would send 34 laden oil tankers each month through the Salish Sea and the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

The Washington bill is a signal of wariness toward potential oil spills on this side of the border. The British Columbia government, meanwhile, is trying to stop the planned 890,000 barrel-a-day pipeline that would carry Alberta tar sands oil to a tanker port in Burnaby, B.C., just east of Vancouver.

Washington lawmakers acted to close a tax loophole for oil moving by pipeline, thereby ensuring all modes of transporting oil are taxed at the same rate to support the state's prevention and spill preparedness work.

The state is home to five oil refineries, including four on northern Puget Sound.

The legislation sets out to identify and accelerate additional safety measures to prevent spills, such as dealing with the threat of barge traffic and working with British Columbia on risks of transport through the Salish Sea.

The bill was sponsored by state Sen. Kevin Ranker, D-Orcas Island, whose district now sees tanker traffic to two refineries at Cherry Point north of Bellingham, and would see tankers in and out of Burnaby pass San Juan Island through Haro Strait.

The Canadian government has approved a project that would triple -- to 890,000 barrels a day -- the capacity of the Trans-Mountain Pipeline, which carries bitumen oil across British Columbia to Burnaby. The Houston-based pipeline builder Kinder Morgan is set to begin work within two years at the latest.

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau approved the expansion of a pipeline from the Alberta oil sands to the Pacific coast on Tuesday. The Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain project is intended to expand markets for the nation’s resources. Trudeau said about the oil pipeline. undefined he added.

Media: Brandpoint

The oil will be stored in a big tank farm -- located on Burnaby Mountain, just below Simon Fraser University -- and then shipped out through Burrard Inlet and the islands of Washington and British Columbia's inland waters.

A new "green" British Columbia government is fighting the pipeline, and the implicit call on B.C. to "take one for the team" -- accepting the risk of tanker traffic so Alberta oil can be shipped to world markets.

But the Canadians have shown an inability to clean up so much as a tugboat spill. A bulk carrier spilled bunker oil in Vancouver's English Bay three years ago. The slow cleanup allowed oil to reach beaches on both sides of the bay.

Washington, too, is being asked to take one for Team Alberta. Haro Strait separates the San Juan Islands and Ranker's constituents from the British Columbia Gulf Islands.

The tankers would pass close by the San Juan Island National Historical Park, as well as such renowned island beauty spots as Patos Island and Turn Point on Stuart Island.

Any spill would impact beaches, inlets and marine life in American parks and monuments, as well as Canada's new Gulf Islands National Park. The nearby Fraser River is home to four of the world's largest sockeye salmon runs.

An alabaster nudibranch, pictured in the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary. NOAA photo.

An alabaster nudibranch, pictured in the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary. NOAA photo.

Photo: National Oceanographic And Atmospheric Administration

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A sun star, pictured in the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary. NOAA photo.

A sun star, pictured in the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary. NOAA photo.

Photo: National Oceanographic And Atmospheric Administration

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Oceanographer Liz Zele prepares to deploy on observational buoy from the deck of the NOAA Ship McArthur II II with the help of technician Lacey O'Neal. Pictured in 2005.

Oceanographer Liz Zele prepares to deploy on observational buoy from the deck of the NOAA Ship McArthur II II with the help of technician Lacey O'Neal. Pictured in 2005.

Photo: National Oceanographic And Atmospheric Administration

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Mary Sue Brancato, a resource protection specialist for the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, sets a trap to monitor for green crab, an invasive species. Pictured in a 2008 photo.

Mary Sue Brancato, a resource protection specialist for the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, sets a trap to monitor for green crab, an invasive species. Pictured in a 2008 photo.

Photo: National Oceanographic And Atmospheric Administration

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Greg McCormack, naturalist and education specialist for the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, is talking to a group of volunteer docents about plants and animals found in tide pools. Pictured in a 2006 photo.

Greg McCormack, naturalist and education specialist for the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, is talking to a group of volunteer docents about plants and animals found in tide pools. Pictured in a 2006

Seabird observers Barbara Blackie and Scott Mills search for birds from the NOAA Ship McArthur II in the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary. Pictured in a 2005 photo.

Seabird observers Barbara Blackie and Scott Mills search for birds from the NOAA Ship McArthur II in the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary. Pictured in a 2005 photo.

Photo: National Oceanographic And Atmospheric Administration

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A basket star, pictured in the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary.

A basket star, pictured in the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary.

Photo: National Oceanographic And Atmospheric Administration

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Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary in photos

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The tankers would head out the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and then down the West Coast.

Backers of legislation in Olympia took satisfaction, even if the battle over Trans-Mountain looms dead ahead.

"Today the Legislature showed they are ready to do what's necessary to protect Washington from the threat of a catastrophic oil spill: This is a clear statement that protecting the health and safety of our state goes beyond party, it's something every Washingtonian understands, said Cliff Traisman, lobbyist for Washington Conservation Voters.

The battle over oil traffic in the Salish Sea has gone on for more than 40 years.

In the late 1970's, Gov. Dixy Lee Ray envisioned Puget Sound serving as a receiving port for trankers carrying oil from Alaska's Prudhoe Bay, and terminus of a pipeline that would carry that oil to the Midwest.

The superport was killed in 1977 when Sen. Warren Magnuson and Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., quietly pushed through a "little amendment" to the Marine Mammal Protection Act. It limited the size of tankers coming into the Sound, and required tug escorts.

Ray called Magnuson, her fellow Democrat, "a dictator." The governor found herself shaking Dicks' hand at the 1978 Rose Bowl in Pasadena, and dropped it like a dead fish.

The threats haven't gone away. A 1988 barge accident off Grays Harbor released 230,000 gallons of bunker oil. Prevailing winds carried the oil onto beaches of Olympic National Park, and as far distant as Canada's Pacific Rim National Park on Vancouver Island.

In a memorable phonecall to an American reporter, Canada's House of Commons Speaker John Fraser cursed the coast guards of both countries as he watched foaming oil come ashore at Long Beach in a national park he had helped create.

A 1991 collision between a freighter and fishing boat, off Cape Flattery, sent tar balls ashore at fabled Shi Shi Beach and Point of Arches in Olympic National Park.

The Legislature has acted over the years. In 2015, it increased the public transparency of oil-by-rail transportation and extended the state's barrel tax to trains. Railroads have resisted regulation under the federal Interstate Commerce Act.

The demonstration Saturday will begin at 10 a.m. in the Skytrain station in Burnaby. American consrvationists are planning on heading to the Great White North to attend.